Ruy Pinto, chief technology officer at Inmarsat, shares the history and advances in broadband satellite communications in a conversation with Steve Gleave, senior vice president at Metaswitch.

Inmarsat Global Xpress will be the first global superfast broadband network. Based on Ka-band technology, it will offer the unique combination of global coverage from a single operator, consistent higher performance (up to 50MB) and the network reliability for which Inmarsat is renowned. Services will be delivered over a new generation of satellites: the Inmarsat-5s.

The first satellite for Global Xpress is scheduled for launch in 2013 and will cover the Indian Ocean region. Global service is planned for the end of 2014.

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